What are you reading?

Just finished The Cassini Division, the third book in the Fall Revolution cycle. As third acts often tend to be, it was more action-y and concerned with tying up loose ends than introducing brilliant new ideas; as such, it was perhaps the most dispensable of the three. A few nods to Iain M. Banks (e.g. a ship named "Necessary Evil But Still Cool"), a dash of philosophy (a variant of socialism based on the philosophical premise that people are utter selfish bastards), and rather a lot of matter-of-fact sex.

The author showed the first hints of starting to repeat himself, and veered dangerously close to space opera cliché at times. Still a good read, a satisfying conclusion to the Fall Revolution story arc, and an easier read than the previous two books, but it didn't have the complexity and density of ideas the others did. I got the feeling that the author was just a hair impatient to get it over with so he could move on to new things.

There's a fourth one, The Sky Road, which is apparently an alternative conclusion -- in it, history takes a right turn halfway through The Stone Canal due to a different decision by one of the minor characters in it.

I found this conclusion rather... satisfying, so I think I'll hold off a bit before reading it. I don't even have it yet.

Waking up Screaming.

A lot of great Lovecraft stories in this collection: The Shadow over Innsmouth, Beyond the Wall of Sleep, The Temple, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, etc...

Prima Junta's recent mentioning of Charles Dexter Ward reminded me that I had this book. I'm glad I brought it with me on vacation.

Well, because of you JDR I ordered Blood of Elves ... just arrived today, probably won't touch it until vacation in a week.

txa1265 said:

Well, because of you JDR I ordered Blood of Elves ... just arrived today, probably won't touch it until vacation in a week.

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I didn't even start reading it yet myself. I ended up sleeping and reading Lovecraft on my flight to Hawaii.

I'm reading the Dhammapada, by the Buddha. Translated by Gil Fronsdal. Impressive stuff, right from the first verse:

Buddha said:

All experience is preceded by mind,
Led by mind,
Made by mind.
Speak or act with a corrupted mind,
And suffering follows,
As the wagon wheel follows the hoof of the ox.

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Now reading The Recorded Sayings of Layman P'ang, compiled by Imperial Commissioner Yu Ti, and translated to English by James Green.

Damn, these Buddhists have sacred texts that are *way* better than anything we have over here. They're bizarre, fun, and wise all at the same time.

Imperial Commissioner Yu Ti said:

One day Pai-ling asked the Layman, "Both speaking about it and not speaking about it are unavoidable. So can you tell me simply, how do you not avoid speaking about it?"
The Layman winked at him.
Pai-ling said, "Nothing could be more sublime than that."
The Layman said, "So the teacher is someone who gives false compliments, is he?"
Pai-ling said, "Who doesn't? Who doesn't?"
The Layman bowed and left.

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Budhism is so deep, logic and simple, but complex at the same time

Moving on: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, by Shunryu Suzuki. Since I'm not sure if I can handle all this edification at once, I'm also starting on The Great Transformation by Karen Armstrong; that one's a bit of a brick compared to these lovely, short, pithy, and often funny Buddhist texts.

Yes, I have that Armstrong book and only got a few pages into it. Zen Mind Beginner's Mind is very readable. It's been forty-some years, but I do remember I enjoyed it back when I was reading up the subject. I read a lot more intellectually adventurous material back then-- looking at my bookshelf from back then I see Revenge of the Lawn, by Richard Brautigan, Nature, Man and Woman by Alan Watts, Milan Kundera's Incredible Lightness of Being. And of course, Siddhartha by Hesse. I wish I could remember more, but it's been awhile.

I read almost everything by Hesse as a teenager. I was a bit embarrassed about it afterward, actually. Now I'd like to return to them, although I'd probably just re-read Steppenwolf and Magister Ludi; Siddhartha, Demian, and the rest were pretty much repetition of the same things, or so I recall.

If one were to read one book by Mr. Heinlein... what would that book be?

I think I should read some Heinlein. I believe he has some major cultural significance!
...or something.

His most influential book must have been Stranger in a Strange Land, so you might want to read that one. I'd rather read Starship Troopers though as it inspired so many folks to write their own version of it, or - if you want to have a neat look at Heinlein's inner true self (if there is something like it) - read Friday.

It's interesting how his most convincing lead characters were teenage girls (in several of the earlier stories), and how he came to recognize that later by choosing the female point of view quite often. It went so far that one of his male (minor) characters had a sex change in between his earlier appearance (in the Fifties) and his later appearance (in the 80s). Boy, Bob Heinlein must have had some really strong anima. Or uterus envy. Or both.

There's a song by Yes out there, also called "Starship Trooper".

Yes, errr.. the song's lyrics were more about spiritual trips rather than carousing across the galaxy fighting giant spiders.

Zakhary said:

If one were to read one book by Mr. Heinlein... what would that book be?

I think I should read some Heinlein. I believe he has some major cultural significance!
...or something.

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I liked Double Star and Citizen of the Galaxy more than Starship Troopers or Stranger in a Strange Land. Children of Methuselah was pretty good too.

If you're reading to get the cultural significance and the pop-culture references, though, those two are probably the ones to read.

Good Grief, DS and CoG are my 2 favourite Heinlein books as well!! I try to re-read them every couple of years, at least.

Zakhary said:

If one were to read one book by Mr. Heinlein... what would that book be?

I think I should read some Heinlein. I believe he has some major cultural significance!
...or something.

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Stranger in a Strange Land is definitely a good pick as you'll find plenty of folks to discuss it with. Then you can go on to the others Prime Junta mentioned.

It's a very hard pick. I read all of them.

As a wrote earlier I am in the process of re-reading the 1000+ science fiction books I collected during the seventies and eighties.

A very good one is "The ugly Swans" by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.

This book describes the development of a kind of superhumans, caused by some kind of disease and its impact on the old society.

Really good. I bought it in Germany in 1982, in the Soviet Union it was officially published only in 1987 after the beginnng of Perestroika.

For those,who don't know: The brothers Strugatsy are probably the most famous science fiction writers of the USSR.

My favorite book was "Hard to be a god", they are also known for "roadside Picnic" (called "Stalker" as a movie).

By the way I also read all the Heinleins, but honestly the Strugatskys are in a different league, more comparable to Philip K. Dick or Stanislaw Lem.

Bleak and dark?